Looking for Volunteers for a New Ministry Team
FCCA has the opportunity to form a new Accompaniment team to help two families move into supportive housing and get established in Alameda!
Accompaniment means helping a family become independent by showing them how to navigate various bureaucracies, find employment and permanent housing, act as advocates when necessary, and welcome them as new community members. We believe that this is part of FCCA’s mission–to welcome all in an inclusive community.
The family is actually two families who have banded together. Irma and Sindy (both Spanish speaking) met in a shelter in Oakland–both had been homeless and were fleeing abuse. Both have two children, and three of the four children have known disabilities (including one who uses a wheelchair).
Shelter In Peace has a home in Alameda for the two women that will be available starting June 15. We would like to partner with Shelter in Peace and another church (First Presbyterian) to help ensure they can take advantage of this opportunity. They can only move in if FCCA is also on the lease and guarantees the rent will be paid. We have been assured that this will not be a problem as they have income from SSI and a Gofundme that was sponsored on their behalf by Oakland school district, where the children are enrolled.
We don’t yet know exactly what the families’ needs are in terms of accompaniment, but they can range from help with making phone calls or writing letters on behalf of the family, help with shopping or laundry, to rides to the food bank or doctor appointments, to attending school meetings. Each family is different. The period of accompaniment is usually about a year.
If you have networking skills we are looking for someone to coordinate the team for our church, to be the “point person” between the families, our church, and the other churches/organizations that assist the families. Ability to speak Spanish is helpful.
If you would like to contribute to a fund to help the women save for their eventual move to permanent housing, or to pay for unseen needs that may come up, please contact Rev. Laura at revlaura@fccalameda.org.
If you think you would like to be a part of the Accompaniment Team or have more questions, please contact Rev. Laura or Teri Kennedy (Teri’s info is in the church directory). We would like to gather a team in the very near future in order to make sure the families can move in by June 15.
